For Sonic’s 30th anniversary, a live stream event called Sonic Central took place back in May. During the stream, we got a teaser for what looked to be a new 3D game for the Blue Blur, where he ran through the forest and … ran through the forest.

Now, we have a longer trailer, a title, and a potential release window of Holiday 2022, so let’s talk about Sonic Frontiers.

What we know so far

Looking at the trailer, it’s hard not to get The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild vibes as the camera moves over some beautiful, open locations. I kinda expected there to be a moment where it switches to the 3D Sonic gameplay style I’m used to, where he spins through loops or, maybe, outruns a killer whale, but the moment never comes.

That’s because this is going to be an open-world game, or rather, an “open-zone-inspired experience.”

According to Polygon, Takashi Iizuka (the creative officer at Sonic Team USA) had this to say about the game in a statement: “Sonic Frontiers is a huge leap forward for the franchise, delivering an evolved gameplay experience that can be enjoyed by longtime Sonic fans and action-adventure enthusiasts alike.”

An open-world Sonic would be pretty neat if executed correctly. As excited as I am about all of this Sonic news, I know to remain cautiously optimistic in regards to his many adventures. Honestly, it feels like this is the direction that they’ve wanted to take Sonic for a while, as some of the 3D zones have been huge and made me want to run around and explore the grasslands instead of being locked to one particular path.

I’m curious to see what “open world” translates into with a character who runs really, really fast.

The game’s storyline will be by writer Ian Flynn, who was the chief writer for the Archie Comics Sonic the Hedgehog comics from 2006 up to their cancellation in 2017. Currently, he’s a contributing writer for IDW’s Sonic the Hedgehog comic series and has written a couple of episodes for the Sonic Boom animated series.

Is my dream of having some of the comic book series characters in the game-verse going to come true?

That aside, I’m excited to see a Sonic game being written by someone who has done work with the comics and on the animated series. Flynn has well over a decade of Sonic writing experience in a medium that has taken the game lore and turned it into full-blown, ongoing stories, introducing concepts and ideas that would be really cool to play through.

I was not prepared for the hype, and especially not prepared for all the personal well-wishes. So many of you who’ve been with me since the beginning (and even longer!)

I am honored and blessed to be held in such high regard, and I appreciate every single one of you. 1/4

— Ian Flynn (@IanFlynnBKC) December 10, 2021

Who is talking to Sonic?

As Sonic is running away from whatever it is that’s pursuing him (I’m guessing those are a part of the giant creature at the end of the trailer), he hears someone telling him to turn in a different direction. While the trailer doesn’t show who it is, according to Nintendo Life, the closed captions do.

The video uploaded by Xbox lets you turn on closed captioning, and when you do, it says that the voice belongs to Amy. Apparently, Amy’s Japanese voice actress, Junichi Kanemaru, confirmed that it was her voice in a tweet, but the tweet has been deleted.

Now that Amy’s name has been floated, it does sound like her, but knowing that only leads to more questions. What was with the echo in her voice? Furthermore, where even is she, because she’s not there when Sonic turns that corner.

Has Sonic been separated from his friends somehow? More importantly, does it have anything to do with the digitized sparks of blue around Sonic during that slow-motion explosion? For that matter, what’s with the digitized sounds going on in the trailer during certain parts?

What is the story here?

It’s not too off-base to think that Sonic may be in another world of some sort, as this is a game franchise where, at one point, Classic Sonic and Modern Sonic fought together. Are we getting some hedgehog leaps into alternate realities?

Someone, please tell me something. Don’t leave me to my own devices!

(Image: Sega)

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